1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to shopping cart accessories.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of a shopping list while in the supermarket is almost universal. Observation of shoppers pushing their carts at any point in time will reveal the use of shopping lists on all kinds of paper from napkins to the use of the periphery of coupons, stuffed into shirt pockets, pocketbooks, trouser pockets. While such lists may be well organized at home, when the shopper gets into the store, there is no convenient place to place the list and to check off each item as it is placed in the shopping cart. Further, discount coupons which are also used by a substantial percentage of the grocery shopping public further exacerbates the problem of paper handling while trying to push the cart.
Recognizing a part of the problem, a number of inventions have been directed to shopping cart organizers and list holders.
Krebs U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,353, issued on Aug. 22, 1989, discloses a grocery shopper organizer that releasibly fastens to the horizontal bar of the child seat or along one of the horizontal side bars of the shopping cart. The design has provisions for carrying a calculator, substantial space devoted to storing coupons and a small area for shopping lists as well as a clip to hold a pen or pencil. Due to its size and the mechanism that holds the device to the cart, it is not readily transportable to and from the grocery store and is inconvenient to store at home.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,539 and continuation-in-part issued to Economy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,318, discloses a shopping cart organizer that is suspended between the front and rear horizontal bars of the child seat. This device is meant to stay with the shopping cart.
Welborn et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,117, discloses another shopping cart list holder that clamps to the shopping cart handle. To install, the shopper must use wing nuts to tighten the device in place.
Harris et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,058, discloses still another shopping cart organizer with two separate writing compartments attached to the shopping cart handle with a spring clip arrangement.
A shopping list holder that can be kept in a convenient location for adding items to the list; can be comfortably carried from the home to the store; can quickly be attached to the shopping cart; and can provide a stable, easily accessible writing surface is not found in the prior art.